The Wealth of Nations
The Industrial Revolution brought fantastic opportunities for developing specialisation, best described in the philosopher and economist Adam Smith’s book The Wealth of Nations, first published in 1776.
In Mr Smith’s book, he argued for specialisation that will lead to cheaper goods and services that will enable people to have more items and better living standards, which will also lead to technological improvements.
The hyper-specialisation made possible by the Industrial Revolution did more to liberate women from the household than feminism ever has because it freed women from domestic chores and responsibilities.
It is highly naïve and disrespectful to believe that women in nothing throughout human history provided meals and clothes as well as working in agriculture to keep their homes fed and the household running.
In the past, running a household was a full-time job just as valuable as a man working in a factory because it did not generate wealth; it was perceived as lesser.
It is economic activity that doesn’t go to the national GDP that is disrespected by contemporary societies, the work of a wife or homemaker.
The technologies of the 19th and 20th centuries have liberated women from the household and provided them with great opportunities for education and advancement in different career paths, starting with the invention of the lightbulb by Thomas Edison in 1879.
The lightbulb has liberated women because it enabled women to read and write during darker hours; when the children are asleep and the husband has been fed, she can now devote time to educational pursuits and not be limited by the rising and the setting of the sun.
James King, in 1851, created the first washing machine to use a drum. Hamilton Smith 1858 patented a rotary version, and in 1868, Thomas Bradford, a British inventor, created a commercially successful machine that resembles the modern device.
This is another technology that liberated women from household chores of washing, which gave them more time to have other pursuits and is a massive reason why women could enter the workforce because more and more domestic chores were now being taken over by new specialised machines made possible due to the Industrial Revolution which further liberated women from the household.
Women were also liberated from having to kill and cook food from scratch with the freezer. It was used to store food, meat, and vegetables.
In 1859, engineers started using ammonia to freeze food. Until then, vapour was used to cool and eventually freeze the food.
Now, women will no longer have to take a chicken and turn it into a chicken nugget. Now, the chicken was already killed, and it could be cooked from frozen again three more times for women to join the workforce or pursue other avenues of meaning.
On a final note, what made it possible for women to function in the workplace to work in factories was the invention of the tampon [jr1] and public toilets, which meant that women could dispose of any blood during their periods and the female-only spaces for their safety and security.
The importance of female-only areas cannot be overlooked due to women facing the possibility of rape, murder as well as protecting their dignity when engaged in functions involving toilets and the disposal of their sanitary products.
George Jennings was an English sanitary engineer and plumber who invented the first public flush toilets.
(In 1851, the first public flushing toilet block opened in London and spread nationwide due to its popularity. The cost of using these public toilets was 1 penny, hence the famous phrase ‘to spend a penny’.)
(In 1931, Earl Haas, a physician in Colorado, developed a cardboard applicator tampon meant to absorb menstrual blood. He made the tampon inside the applicator from a tightly bound strip of dense cotton attached to a string for easy removal.)
What has been concisely demonstrated was how industrialisation and the specialisation created through industrialisation enabled women’s liberation from domestic chores and made it possible for women to enter the workplace.
For those reasons, industrialisation was a positive because it gave women the choice of whether to work or stay home as homemakers.
Unfortunately, women don’t have the options today due to the cost of living; staying at home with the children is not an option for most wives, women or others unless the husband/wife or Person is earning £52,000 in the United Kingdom or $100,000 in the United States of America due to the sheer cost of living.
